I have heard that bogeyman came from the Bugis (pronounced boo-gee (g as in good), some ethnic groups pronounce the s and some don't) people of SE Sulawesi, who were much feared as pirates in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Didn't realize there were so many posts...they stopped coming to my mailbox after tsuwm's, which is the one I wanted to reply to. Sorry I took so long getting back. But the 'dangling cigarette' signature -style of Bogie'sscreen persona is an insightful perspective on the coining of the word. I always thought it was due to his tough-man image. You know, "If I want to hang on to this for awhile, who's gonna take it back from me?" But the dangling cigarette makes a lot more sense in light of the pot-smoking etiquette coinage...for, as many of us know, this crowd was prone to be a more docile bunch...a macho, violent image would be less cool. Thanks, tsuwm!Also, in regards to the other lineage of Boggart to bogeyman...is this the declension of 'booger' for snot as well?

I live right near Boggart Hole Clough in the North West of England. I always knew boggarts to be mischevious and sometimes malaevolent goblin creatures who eat teaspoons and can be helpful if supplied with milk

Perhaps not so unexplained, silver spoons being both valuable and portable:The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.-- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), The Conduct of Life, “Worship,” (1870).

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